August 2007 Podcast: The Upright Bass Show

The August Rambling Podcast is The Upright Bass Show. The setlist is:

1. Oscar Peterson Trio -Nigerian Marketplace (01:35-07:40)
2. Les Chats Variés - Intro (07:40-12:20)
3. Sunnyland Slim - Tin Pan Alley (13:45-17:25)
4. Charles Mingus - Monk, Funk or Vice-Versa (17:45-24:35)
5. Renaud Garcia-Fons - Goodjinns (26:00-33:20)
6. The Wood Brothers - Luckiest Man (33:20-37:40)
7. The Mojo Band - Parch Farm Blues (38:50-42:15)
8. Olivier Ker-Ourio - Sur les quais de Lorient (42:15-49:55)
9. Joe Powers - El Choclo (49:55-52:20)
10. G. Love and Special Sauce - Blues Music (53:35-59:20)
11. Ray Brown - Bag's Groove (59:20-01:03:35)
12. The John Butler Trio - Better Than (01:04:45-01:08:11)

For more info on this podcast in general, check out the generic Rambling Podcast post.

I've kind of given up on doing one of these each month, normal life is too often in the way. But I haven't given up on doing them, and I'm particularly pleased about this podcast, which features some of my favorite music ever.

This show focuses on an instrument in many different genres, namely double-bass, aka upright bass, bass fiddle, contrabass, etc. There's an extentive article on double-bass on Wikipedia if you want more background on the instrument itself.

Here is the detailed track listing:

Oscar Peterson Trio - Nigerian Marketplace: From the 70s onwards, the Oscar Peterson Trio was, more often than not, backed by Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, a Danish jazz  player whose elastic, funky sound graced hundreds of records by jazz greats. Nigerian Marketplace has been officially released in the live in Montreux album called Nigerian Marketplace (which also features a superb version of Cakewalk with yet more amazing bass playing). I only own one of NHOP's solo albums, the out of print To a Brother, which is great, but you can also find his amazing playing on Count Basie's Kansas City 6 and on the recently released Oscar Peterson DVD  The Berlin Concert which also features Nigerian Marketplace (Source: July 1st, 1982, New York City, USA)

Les Chats Variés - Intro: Les Chats Variés was an odd and sadly short-lived Chanson Française meets Jazz duet featuring Francis Férrié on guitar, vocals and (superb) songwriting, and Eric Chafer on acoustic bass and harmonica. Intro opens the Chats Variés' one and only live record, Kilucru. Eric Chafer is a born musician whose original instrument was bass. He then branched out to the diatonic harmonica and devised his own tuning and instrument to allow him an easier exploration of jazz. After a couple of years, he moved on to Tuba and apparently still plays that instrument in the mediterranean folklore band Les Troublamours. (Source: Les Chats Variés - Kilucru)

Sunnyland Slim - Tin Pan Alley: On this version of Tin Pan Alley, Sunnyland Slim is backed by the 1964 American Folk Blues Festival band including Willie Dixon on bass. Willie Dixon was a legend of blues, having backed all the greats and composed dozens of blues standards himself. His bass playing was forceful and raw, but he was, sadly, put on the sideline by the emergence of the less cumbersome electric bass in the late 60s. I already featured Willie Dixon on the first Rambling Podcast, so you can find more discographic pointers here. You can find Tin Pan Alley on the Storyville compilation Blues Masters - Sunnyland Slim but also on many other blues records and compilations. Tin Pan Alley isn't featured on the official AFBF 1964 release but you get another song by Sunnyland Slim, Everytime I Get To Drinkin'. (Source: November 16th, 1964, Wiesbaden, Germany)

Charles Mingus - Monk, Funk or Vice-Versa: I have only recently discovered Charles Mingus, but that discovery has been quite striking. This particular tune has not - as far as I could find - been released on any studio album of Mingus' and I haven't identified a commercial live release that features it either. However, if this organic earthiness appeals to you, I strongly recommend Mingus' Blues and Roots, Oh Yeah or The Clown, all of which feature stunning compositions that form the springing board for amazing improvisation. (Source: October 19th, 1962, New York, USA)

Renaud Garcia-Fons - Goodjinns: Renaud Garcia-Fons is a French double bass player who uses a five-string double bass and plays with the bow a lot. His music is a blend of Spanish and middle-eastern influences in a jazz context. His early albums on Enja tended to feature small formations, but Goodjinns was released on the superb Oriental Bass which features a much larger band. Garcia-Fons' latest release Arcoluz is live and again features a small band (bass, acoustic guitar and percussions). It's a highly recommended CD+DVD package. (Source: October 28th, 2000, Zürich, Switzerland)

The Wood Brothers - Luckiest Man: Chris Wood is well known in jazz circles as the electric and acoustic bassist from Medeski, Martin and Wood. His brother Oliver Wood is a lesser known but no less talented singer and guitarist. Together, they form the Wood Brothers. Luckiest Man was released on their first album Ways not to Lose, which was and still is one of my favourite albums from recent years. I reviewed it here. This live version of Luckiest Man is from a digital live release hosted by Festival Net (?). You can purchase it here. (Source: August 6th, 2006, Newport, USA) 

Mojo Band - Parch Farm Blues: There are many French blues bands around, but few of them sound as distinctive in their re-reading of blues standards as the Mojo Band did. Unfortunately, they disbanded a couple of years back. This cover of Parchman Farm is from their one and only album File Under Blues. It features Stéphane Barral on the double-bass, also a member of another interesting blues/jazz band called Sweet Mama. (Source: Mojo Band - File Under Blues)

Olivier Ker-Ourio - Sur les quais de Lorient: Of the many albums that Olivier Ker-Ourio has released, my favourite are those in which he explores his roots. Olivier is from the Reunion Island, where the French families often came from the region of Britanny. This particular tune explores the blend of these musical influences. On bass, Olivier is accompanied by Gildas Boclé, a prominent French double bass player also from Britanny. Sur les Quais de Lorient comes from the regrettably out of print Oté, l'Ancêtre! (Source - Olivier Ker Ourio - Oté l'Ancêtre!)

Joe powers - El Choclo: I first met Joe Powers in Paris when he was touring, playing tango in all the places where in-the-know fans of that particular style went to dance. Since then, he has spent yet more time in Argentina and recorded his latest CD Amor de Tango there in February this year. El Choclo comes from that album which features Horacio Cabarcos on double bass. (Source: Joe Powers - Amor de Tango)

G. Love and Special Sauce - Blues Music: This song was first released on G Love and Special Sauce's first self-titled album G Love and Speical Sauce. It features Jimi "Jazz" on double bass, with that particular funky sound of his. Jimi Jazz plays mostly with G Love but has other, more experimental, side projects. This version of Blues Music comes from a very good bootleg from 2004 available here on the Live Music Archive (Source: March 18th, 2004, Boston, USA)

Ray Brown - Bag's Groove: This funky jazz standard is a composition of vibraphonst Milt Jackson. Jackson and Brown collaborated on many records, but the tune, while often played by Ray Brown, predates their earliest work together. The earliest recording I could find is on the 1948 self titled Milt Jackson,  but a recording with Ray Brown can be found on Milt Jackson & Company, and without Jackson on Brown's own Some of my Best Friends are... Trumpet Players. (Source: 2001, Bern, Germany)

The John Butler Trio - Better Than: The John Butler Trio is a recently emerged success in acoustic rock, and if all modern rock was this good, I'd listen to nothing but. Better Than is the opening track from John Butler's latest album, Grand National (which I reviewed here), and it features the supple yet fat double bass playing of Shannon Birchall. (Source: March 2nd, 2007, Paris, France)

And this is it ! Many thanks to Olivier Ker Ourio, the Mojo Band, Joe Powers and the Wood Brothers' management for allowing me to use tracks from their respective albums. I didn't manage to contact Les Chats Variés, but I know them well and suspect they won't hold any grudge. Additional thanks to Greg Szlapcsynski for recording a great, Polish jingle. Yet more thanks to artist LG for the Mingus banner. And finally, a fourth round of thanks to Bill Barrett for letting me use his Corn on the Cob from Brother Weasel's Swingin' & Groovin' as an intro and outro to the show.

Please leave comments !!!

Comments

[Cédric Ferrand]

Thanks a lot for this musical trip, Ben.
I'm a simpleton in jazz, but your podcast allows me to discover a world that I didn't know.
And now, when I have a social meeting, I can say "Oh, you don't know Charles Mingus ? What a shame. You have to listen to The Clown before you die..."

Keep on podcasting, it's good for us.